The connecting mechanisms which are used to connect the ground and hot leads to the battery in an automobile have been generally standardized for years and the problem which consistently plagues such connections is one of corrosion. Corrosion results from the acid used in such batteries acting on the metal of which these standard connectors are constructed. An inert metal such as lead which would eliminate this problem has not been widely employed in connecting mechanisms due to its lack of memory, i.e., once deformed it will retain its deformed state after the pressure causing such deformation has been relieved. When lead is used in the standard threaded connecting mechanism, once the pressure exerted by the tightening screw is relieved, the connector still has to be forcibly removed from the battery terminal. Accordingly, inert metals such as lead have often been avoided in the past. Nevertheless, given the proper construction of a lead coupling, such a device would certainly be preferable over the standard metal connecting mechanisms as the corrosion on the terminals with its obvious deleterious effects would be eliminated.
Despite the development of an improved lead coupling, a problem remains of how to economically equip the existing automobiles' hot and ground leads with such a new coupling in place of corrosion susceptible couplings. Simply to remove the existing connecting mechanisms and replace them with a lead coupling would require special equipment and know-how not generally possessed by most automobile owners and the inconvenience and expense of having such a conversion made in an automobile garage would most likely outweigh the benefits to be obtained by the new coupling in the eyes of most automobile owners. It would be highly desirable to provide an assembly by which old battery coupling could be easily replaced with an improved lead coupling by a person of average mechanical ability without the need for specialized equipment. Such an assembly has been developed and is described below.
While it should be readily apparent from the description of the assembly disclosed herein, it should be noted that the assembly can also be used in making and securing a wide variety of electrical couplings in addition to the preferred use in securing improved automotive battery couplings to existing automotive ground and hot leads.